Directory sign for elevator cars



5, 1950 o. MERKER ETAL 2,518,920

DIRECTORY SIGN FOR ELEVATOR CARS Filed July 2, 1948 3 Shees-Shet 1 Fl 6.I

MmvQu/b }INVENTOP BY m AT T02 NEY Aug. 15, 1950 D. MERKER ETAL 2,518,920

DIRECTORY SIGN FOR ELEVATOR CARS Filed July 2, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 32027 I;

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DIRECTORY SIGN FOR ELEVATOR CARS Filed July 2, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5}INVENTOR BY W ATTORNEY latented Aug. 15, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE DIRECTORY SIGN FOR ELEVATOR CARS tion of New Jersey ApplicationJuly 2, 1948, Serial No. 36,586

6 Claims. 1

The invention relates to floor directory signs for elevator cars.

It is of advantage in elevator installations for certain types ofbuildings to provide a floor directory sign in each elevator car. Such adirectory is of especial advantage for department store installationswhere it can be utilized to advise the passengers as to the principallines of merchandise on each floor. This relieves the car attendant ofannouncing this merchandise to the passengers, enabling him to give hisattention principally to operating the car.

One object of the invention is to provide for an elevator car a floordirectory sign in which the portion of the sign related to each floorserved by the car is emphasized as the car arrives at that floor.

Another object of the invention is to provide for an elevator car acombination floor directory sign and car position indicator.

The invention will be described as applied to a store directory sign foran elevator car of a department store installation. In carrying out theinvention according to the arrangement which will be described, the signis arranged to extend horizontally across the front of the car above thedoor. It is divided into sections, one for each floor served by the car.Each section comprises a window upon which appears the number of thefloor and the names of principal lines of merchandise on that floor.Constant overall illumination by reflected light is provided for allwindows in order that the passengers may ascertain in advance the floorsupon which are located the particular items of merchandise in which theyare interested. Also each individual window is further illuminated bytransmitted light as the car arrives at the floor for which the sectionhaving that window is provided, advising the passengers when the carcomes to the floors having the merchandise in which they are interested.

Features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from theabove statements and from the following description and appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in trimetric of an elevator cab with parts brokenaway, illustrating a floor directory sign embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a detail in cross section of the upper portion of the cabillustrating in front elevatim the directory sign of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with parts broken away toillustrate the arrangement I for lighting individual compartments of thesign;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail in section of the upper front portion ofthe elevator cab including a section through a compartment of thedirectory sign taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a detail in section of a directory sign compartment takenalong the line 5--5 of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a simplified schematic wiring diagram of control circuitsfor the lamps of the directory sign compartments.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5 of the drawings, the elevator car comprisesa cab 9 secured to the car floor Ill. The cab is made up of a pluralityof panels to form the back ll, sides I2 and front section 13. The frontof the cab is formed to provide a door opening l5 which is closed by adoor IS.

The top of the cab is provided with a roof plate I! and a ceiling platei8 arranged in spaced relationship and separated along the sides, backand front of the cab by channel shaped spacers and 2!. The ceiling platel8 curves downwardly along the front of the cab and is bent under spacer2|, this spacer being of a greater height than spacers 20 to providethis construction. A blower 22 for blowing ventilating air into the cabis mounted on the roof plate ll. This blower is in the form of acentrifugal fan 23 driven by an electric motor 24 and has its inlet 25from the side and, its outlet 26 extending downwardly through the roofplate 11 into the plenum chamber formed between the roof plate andceiling plate 18. Air is admitted to the cab from the plenum chamberthrough a series of openings 2'! provided along the sides and back ofthe ceiling plate and through the spaces 28 provided at the ends of thecurved portion of the ceiling plate. Exhaust openings 39 are provided inthe back H along the bottom of the cab.

Arranged beneath the channel 2| and extending across the front of thecab is a light trough 35. This trough comprises a back portion 36, a topportion 31, and ends 34. The top portion is secured as by bolts 40 tochannel 2! and extends well out into the cab. The bottom portion extendsonly a short distance into the cab and is secured as by bolts 4| to thecross plate 42 upon which are mounted the supporting brackets 43 for thedoor track 39. Within this trough and substantially coextensivetherewith is a box 44. This box is secured as by screws 45 to brackets46 welded to the trough and as by bolts 41 to the top portion 31- of thetrough. The box is provided, With a plurality of partitions 50 to formlight compartments 5| corresponding in number to the number of floorsserved by the elevator car. The partitions are secured to the box as byscrews 52 extending through brackets 53 welded to the partitions.Arranged in each compartment is a pair of T lamps 54 extendingoppositely longitudinally thereof. The lamp sockets 55 for these lampsare mounted on the partitions 5!! and the ends 56 of the box. Apertures51 are provided in the box for the connectin wires (not shown) to thelamp sockets, a suitable opening (not shown) being also provided in thelight trou h for these wires. Also louvers 60 are provided in eachcompartment for venting the heated air, ventilating apertures 6| beingalso provided in the back of the light trough.

A door 63 is provided for the light trough, this door extendin acrossthe front of the cab. A hinge 64 for the door is provided at the edge ofthe too portion 31 of the trou h. At the bottom, the door is curvedtowar the front of the cab so as to fit under the bottom portion 38 ofthe trough w ere it is secured as by thumb screws 65. The door is roided ith a plurality of o n n s E correspond ng in number to the umb rof comp rtments 5! a d direct y in front thereof. Welded to the back ofthe door at each open ng is a frame 61 slig tly lar er t an the openin Asheet of trans ucent glass in fits in t e frame and is held in place bya second frame II having an openin coext nsive with opening 66 andsecured in place as by wing nuts 12 on screws embedded in frame 61. Bflie plates 13 are arranged between the frames 61.

With t is arrangement there is provided one li ht compartment for eachfloor served by the car, each compartment having a translucent glasswindow. As schematically indicated in Figure 2, the names of variousprinc pal articles of merchandise sold on the particular floors arelettered as by painting on the fronts of the glass windows.

of the corresponding compartments. Also the numbers of the floors forwhich the compartments are provided are similarly applied to thesewindows. Thus this device constitutes a floor directory for use by thepassengers in the car.

The compartments are lighted in succession as the car reaches the floorsfor which they are provided, the device thus funct oning as a combinedcar position indicator and store directory. A suitable circuitarrangement for the lamps of the compartments is illustrated in Figure6. LI and L2 are the supply lines for the lamps. The lamps 54 for eachcompartment are connect ed from supply line Ll in parallel to astationary contact 15 for the floor for which the lamps are provided. Abrush [6 is connected to line L2 subject to a cut-out switch illustratedas a knife switch 11. This brush is actuated in accordance with carmovement and engages these stationary contacts in succession as the carapproaches the respective floors for which the stationary contacts areprovided. This completes the circuits t these pairs of lamps insuccession, causing the lighting of the compartments in succession asthe car approaches the floors. Thus not only is the position of the carindicated in the car but the attention of the passengers is directedespecially to the directory of merchandise on the particular floor atwhich the car is arriving.

Constant overall illumination is provided for the whole indicator inorder that the passengers may ascertain in advance the floors on whichparticular articles of merchandise are 50151.- 91

illumination is illustrated as obtained from a fluorescent lampextending across the front of the cab above and somewhat in front of thedoor 63. A bafile 8|, extending across the front of the cab and securedas by welding to the sides of the cab, shields the lamp 80 from thedirect view of the passengers. The lamp holder brackets 82 for this lampare mounted in an elongated fixture box 83. This box comprises a pan 84secured to the top portion 31 of the light trough 35 as by the bolts 41.On top of this pan is an inverted trough 85. Brackets 86 are secured asby Welding to the pan 84 and the inverted trough is secured on top ofthe pan as by thumb screws extending into the upper arms 8'! of thebrackets. The mounting brackets 82 for lamp 80 extend horizontally fromthe front side of the trough. Another fluorescent lamp 90 is utilized toprovide indirect lighting for the cab. Its lamp holder brackets 9|extend vertically and are also mounted in fixture box 83. The bafile 8|also shields lamp 90 from the eyes of the passengers.

With this arrangement, the whole face of the directory sign isconstantly illuminated by reflected light while the windows of thevarious compartments are individually illuminated by transmitted lightof more intense illumination as the car approaches the correspondingfloors. The arrangement is of pleasing appearance and attracts theattention of the passengers, The passengers can readily ascertain aheadof time the floors at which they desire to alight and the arrival of thecar at these floors is emphatically brought to their attention.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A floor directory sign for an elevator car comprising; a directoryfor each floor served by the car, said directories being arranged sideby side in the car in position to be viewed by the passengers; meansproviding constant overall i1- lumination of all said directories; andmeans for providing in addition to said constant overall illuminationaccentuated individual illumination of said directory for each floor asthe car arrives at that floor.

2. A floor directory sign for an elevator car comprising; a directoryfor each floor served by the car, said directories being arranged sideby side overhead across the front of the car in the order of successionof floors; means providing overall illumination of all said directoriesin order that passengers may ascertain in advance the floors at whichthey desire to alight; and means for providing accentuated individua1illumination of said directory for each floor as the car arrives at thatfloor, thereby advising the passengers of the arrival of the car at thefloors at which they desire to alight.

3. A floor directory sign for an elevator car comprising; a plurality oftranslucent windows, one for each floor served by the car, extendingside by side overhead across the front of the car; a directory of eachfloor on said window for such floor; means providing constant overallillumination of all said directories in order that passengers mayascertain in advance the floors at which they desire to alight; andmeans for providing accentuated illumination of said directory for eachfloor by light transmitted through the window for that floor as the cararrives at that floor, thereby advising the passengers of the arrival ofthe car at the floors at which they desire to alight.

4. A floor directory sign for an elevator car comprising; a plurality ofcompartments, one for each floor served by the car, extending side byside overhead across the front of the car; a translucent window for eachcompartment; a directory of each floor on said window of the compartmentfor such floor; means providing constant overall illumination byreflected light of all said directories in order that passengers mayascertain in advance the floors at which they desire to alight; lightingmeans in each compartment; and means for causing lighting of saidlighting means for each floor to provide accentuated illumination ofsaid directory for that floor by light transmitted through the windowhaving such directory thereon as the car arrives at that floor, therebyadvising the passengers of the arrival of the car at the floors at whichthey desire to alight.

5. A floor directory sign for an elevator car comprising; an elongatedbox extending overhead across the front of the car and having aplurality of compartments, one for each floor served by the car;lighting means in each compartment; a translucent window for eachcompartment; a directory of each floor on the window of the compartmentfor that floor; means providing constant overall illumination of saidwindows by refiected light; and means for causing illumina- 3 tion ofsaid compartments by their lighting means in succession as the cararrives at the floors for which the compartments are provided to furtherilluminate the compartment windows individually by transmitted light inaccordance with the position of the car in its hoistway.

6. A store directory sign for a department store elevator carcomprising; an elongated box extending overhead across the front of thecar; a plurality of partitions in said box to form a plurality ofcompartments, one for each floor served by the car; a pair of tubularlamps in each compartment extending oppositely therein longitudinally ofsaid box; a face for said box having a plurality of translucent windows,one for each compartment; indicia on each window listing the floornumber and items of merchandise 0n the particular floor for which thecompartment having that window is provided; an elongated tubular lampmounted above and to the front of said face for providing constantoverall illuminiation of said face; a baflle for shielding said lampfrom the passengers in the car; and means for lighting said pairs ofcompartment lamps in succession as the car arrives at the floors forwhich the compartments for such lamps are provided to further illuminatethe compartment windows individually by transmitted light in accordancewith the position of the car in its hoistway.

DAVID MERKER. MORRISON JOHN BROUNN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,197,507 Lee July 31, 19341,968,427 Sanford July 31, 1934 2206,9985" Beizer July 9, 1940 2,463,050Pasternak Mar. 1, 1949

